Miscommunication
by Tibbins
Summary: Continuation of 13x17. Castiel returns to the bunker to find things not quite as he left them. He's not particularly happy about the new development. Lightly implied Destiel.


**Hey everyone!**

 **So I _am_ still working on that WIP I've got going on but after the new episode I just _had_ to write something. So here you are!**

 **Enjoy ^_^**

Castiel stepped through the bunker door, feeling defeated. He had been searching all week for any sign of where Lucifer was hiding but he had found nothing. He'd even gone to the sandbox to see if the angels knew where he was. Duma had been reluctant to talk to him but eventually confessed that the angels could find no trace of him on Earth either. He decided that it was probably best if he went back to the Winchesters, although he couldn't help but feel like he'd let them down by returning empty-handed.

Sam had been sat with his back to the entrance but whirled around when he heard the door open, a look of pure panic on his face. His movement revealed the archangel sat behind him, bloodied, with thick, black thread dangling from his torn lips, grace diminished, a grace that Castiel had thought he'd never see again.

" _Gabriel_?"

Castiel didn't remember walking down the stairs, he only knew that he was at the bottom of them now, staring at his brother's broken vessel. Those amber eyes met his and Gabriel half-flinched away, as though terrified of what he saw. Castiel stepped forward slowly.

"Gabriel, it's me. I'm not going to hurt you."

Sam jumped out of his chair and retreated to one side, dropping the tweezers he'd clearly been using to remove the thread from Gabriel's mouth.

"Who did this to you?" Castiel asked gently, kneeling in front of his brother and placing a hand on the side of his broken face, willing his grace to heal. It was difficult, healing an archangel was never easy, but it was also very rarely necessary. Gabriel had clearly lost a lot of his grace, too much to be able to waste on healing himself. Castiel couldn't repair his brother's grace, that would just have to replenish on its own, but when he stepped back Gabriel's face was clear, although his eyes were still haunted. He didn't speak.

"Asmodeus." Sam put in, then he cleared his throat, "Uh, Ketch brought him to us."

" _Ketch_?"

"He wanted protection." Sam explained, "and he knew we were looking for the grace of an archangel, so…" he gestured apologetically.

Castiel was not in a forgiving mood, he stood, his sudden movement startled Gabriel and he cowered back but Castiel's anger was not directed at him.

"And you didn't think to call me?"

"Dude, this _just_ happened. Like, a couple of hours ago."

"I repeat my earlier question." Castiel growled, "Why didn't you call me? Why didn't _Dean_ call me?" The elder Winchester would surely understand more acutely the need to know when family members returned from the grave, when a brother he'd thought was lost turned up with his mouth sewn shut and fear in his every movement.

Sam shuffled his feet, for all his height looking like an admonished child.

"Dean's not here." He mumbled.

The way he said it made Castiel instantly more suspicious.

"Where is he?"

Sam swallowed hard and raised his hand to point. Castiel followed the movement with his eyes and froze; a shimmering, golden rip in space hung there, suspended between realms.

"He didn't." Castiel's voice was almost a whisper, even as pure rage had his hands forming into fists at his sides.

Sam snorted, "Of course he did." He said, "you know what he's like-"

The next second, Castiel had slammed Sam into the wall, arm at his throat, pinning him to the coarse brick.

"Yes," Castiel said, his tone would have sounded conversational if his voice wasn't shaking, "I know him. And I know that he's not so _stupid_ as to go on a suicide mission in another world without backup."

"Cas-" Sam gasped, struggling against his hold, Castiel was unmoved, driven by his fury, his worry, his _hurt_.

"-Or are you telling me…" Castiel interrupted him, "that not only is he _precisely_ that stupid, but that _you_ are too, because you allowed this to happen?"

"Stop."

The hoarse voice sounded like two rusty blades sliding together. Castiel looked around; Gabriel was staring at him, pleading with his eyes. He'd shifted his weight to the edge of his seat although he had yet to stand, Castiel wasn't sure he'd be able to if he tried. He held his brother's eyes and some of his anger drained away, enough so that he dropped Sam, who steadied himself against the wall, catching his breath, and instead turned to fully face the rift, where Dean was.

"I didn't want him to go in." Sam said once he'd regained the ability to speak, massaging his neck. Castiel hadn't meant to put _too_ much pressure on him, just enough to be uncomfortable, but his anger had taken hold. "Stubborn son of a bitch insisted; said there was no point in waiting around when we had all the ingredients, insisted that I stay here to look after him," Sam gestured to Gabriel, who looked down at the floor again, "and to be able to re-open the rift if he doesn't make it back in time, we only used half the blood and the spell needs someone who's been there so it was either of us."

"Or me." Castiel said.

"Well… yeah," Sam said, "but you weren't here."

"I was on my way." Castiel shot back, "I would have been faster if you'd called, told me what was happening or hell, even _prayed_. You had _no_ right to do this without me."

"Cas," Sam said, in his 'I'm trying to be reasonable' voice that only made Castiel's blood boil, "our _mom_ is over there, being tortured no less, you think Dean was going to wait a single second longer if he thought he could save her?"

"And what about Jack?" Castiel asked stiffly, "The boy that _I_ am responsible for? I should have had a say in this, I should have gone with him. That place is dangerous and I have just as much of a stake in what happens over there as you do. But you dismissed me, like you _always_ dismiss me when it's inconvenient for you to remember that I am a part of this team. I am a part of this family and I am tired of being treated like I'm just another contact in your phone for you to call when you need something; we've come too far for that, I have earned more than that. Gabriel is my brother, Jack is my son, Mary is my friend and Dean…" Castiel hesitated, unable to accurately describe what Dean was to him in one word, "You should have called."

There was silence for a moment. Then Sam laid a hand heavily on his shoulder.

"You're right." He said softly. "I'm sorry. We should have let you in on this."

Castiel shrugged off the hand and turned away. There was no point in going after Dean now, he had several hours head start and Castiel was only as fast as his vessel, even the fact that he didn't tire didn't mean much, as Dean had a penchant for pushing through his own fatigue, particularly when on a mission.

"I'm going to set Gabriel up with a room." He said instead, walking back over to his brother and kneeling. "Do you think you can stand?"

Gabriel nodded slowly and started to push himself up, Castiel reached out to take his elbow and Gabriel allowed it, which Castiel thought was a good sign. They set off down the corridor, Sam watching after them, until they came to one of the spare rooms that had once been occupied by Charlie. It seemed fitting, he thought; he suspected that the trickster and the bubbly redhead would have gotten along. He sat Gabriel down on the bed and watched him as he took stock of his new surroundings.

"You're safe here." Castiel assured him. "You know us, correct?"

Gabriel nodded again.

"Do you trust us?"

Gabriel looked at him and Castiel thought he saw a flicker of familiar sarcasm. He smiled slightly.

"Fair enough. Well, the bunker is yours to explore. If you like, I can give you a tour when you're stronger. There's a library, recreation rooms, the 'Dean-cave'." Castiel bent his fingers in quotation. "There's TV and internet and a kitchen, I know you like to eat. If you need anything…" He trailed off, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. "I'm glad you're alive, brother." He said, "I didn't dare to hope."

Gabriel reached out a hand to clasp Castiel's. Castiel squeezed reassuringly, although whether it was to reassure Gabriel or himself, he wasn't sure.

"I need to talk to Sam about what we're going to do now." Castiel said, gently extracting his hands from Gabriel's. "Will you be alright here?"

Gabriel tilted his head but didn't look particularly opposed to the idea.

"Pray if you need me." Castiel said, "I'll hear you, I promise."

The archangel's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't speak again.

Castiel left and made to close the door behind him, but a whimper from Gabriel told him that he would prefer it be left open. Once back in the hallway, Castiel leaned against the wall and massaged the bridge of his nose. If he could get natural headaches, he knew he would have one but under all of his concern for Jack and his anger at Dean and his frustration at the entire situation, Castiel was relieved that his brother was safe. He took a few moments to process that information, then he headed back to the war room. He met Sam halfway there but didn't break his stride when the hunter fell into step with him.

"So, let me see if I have this right." Castiel said, "Dean is in Apocalypse World, _alone_?"

"He's with Ketch." Sam informed him, as though that was supposed to give him even a modicum of comfort.

"Because that makes it _so_ much better." Cas snarked, "Dean running around an apocalyptic wasteland with a remorseless murderer searching for a Nephilim and Mary Winchester who's being held by fully powered archangel Michael. What could possibly go wrong?"

"It's not easy for me either." Sam insisted. "But you know how he gets when he has a mission like that, he won't stop for anything."

"He'd stop for _you_." Cas said. "You could have talked him into at least waiting for me to get back, but that thought never occurred to you, did it?"

"No," Sam said guiltily, "and I'm sorry, it should have. You are important to us, Cas, you matter."

"I don't need to hear it, Sam." Cas shot back, "I need to see it, I need to _know_ it. Because you always pull stunts like this as though I can't be affected by them. I'm not someone who can walk away from this unharmed and you need to start realising that."

Sam was silent for a moment, they reached the war room and took chairs at the main table next to each other, facing the rift. It was an unspoken agreement that they would keep a vigil on this thing until Dean returned.

 _If Dean returned._

"You're right." Sam said quietly. "Of course you're right. Me and Dean, we've been at this for so long, man, that sometimes it's hard to remember that it's not just the two of us anymore. Especially with Mom and Jack not being here and you in and out… it always comes down to just me and him, you know? And everyone else is just kind of passing through. I know that's how Dean sees it, sees everyone. He's never had much permanence in his life before, you know? I swear he's been suspicious of Mom since she came back, like he keeps expecting her to just up and leave. But you? No, man, he relies on you."

"Clearly not."

Castiel couldn't help the way that his voice caught. Sam glanced over at him.

"He does." He said firmly, then his voice turned sad. "You and me and his car, we're the only things he trusts to still be here in the morning. When we lost you…" Sam trailed off and swallowed hard, "well, it wasn't pretty."

Castiel sighed, "that's no excuse for him to leave me here. He knew I'd want to come with him, he must have done."

"Actually," Sam said thoughtfully, "I'm pretty sure that's why he wouldn't wait."

"What do you mean?"

"He knew he wouldn't be able to talk you out of going." Sam said, "it wouldn't make sense for both of us to stay here. I think he wanted to keep you out of it, just in case."

Castiel bristled. "I don't need his protection."

"Well good luck getting Dean to stop protecting the people he cares about." Sam said, "Hey, man, I get it, it sucks to be left behind. It sucks to be benched when you know you could help. But he'll be okay, he always is."

"Not always." Castiel said.

Sam's jaw twitched.

"No, but Ketch'll watch his back. I doubt he'll want to stick around in a world without Prada suits and he knows I won't protect him from Asmodeus if anything happens to Dean."

"That's not very reassuring."

Sam let out a short bark of laughter. "It's all I've got." He said, standing to go to the mini fridge and pull out a couple of beers.

"Does he know that we're just going to be sitting here, worrying about him, until he gets back?" Castiel asked.

Sam passed him a beer, "I think he's counting on it." He said, re-taking his seat. "I might make a banner for when he gets back. 'I'm glad you didn't die, you huge jerk.'"

Castiel opened the beer and chuckled. Sam was right, it did suck, and he was not going to enjoy the next twenty-four hours of tense waiting, but it sucked a little less to know that Sam was with him.

When Dean got back, however, he was going to have a very… _emphatic_ talk with him about his disregard for Castiel's place on the team. He had been overlooked by the Winchesters long enough.

 **There you have it. What do you think?**

 **I know it's pretty short and not particularly fleshed out but I just had to get something done.**

 **All opinions and feedback welcome.**

 **Also, if you like, feel free to contact me on tumblr: afandomlockedfangirl**

 **I always love to hear from you ^_^**

 **Love Tibbins xx**


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